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The Week Ahead: Sept. 24 to 30

Sep 23rd 2013

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tastemakers of Mizner Park at various Mizner Park restaurants; 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; $30 for passport; 561/362-0606 or www.miznerpark.com

There’s still time to purchase the most affordable and gastronomically satisfying passport you’ll ever want to carry: the square booklet that grants access to the annual Tastemakers of Mizner Park foodie extravaganza. Eleven dining establishments will offer samples of signature dishes paired with appropriate libations, including first-time participator Jazziz Nightlife (butter-poached Maine lobster), Tanzy (homemade meatball and garlic crostini), Villagio beef carpaccio) and Racks (ahi tuna tacos). Honestly, what else do you have to do on a Tuesday or Wednesday night?

Thursday

Opening day of “Dinosaurs in Motion” at Museum of Discovery and Science, 401 S.W. Second St., Fort Lauderdale; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; $12 to $14; 954/467-6637 or www.mods.org

Ever wanted to play god in a prehistoric context, controlling the very limbs of some of the planet’s earliest inhabitants? This imaginative new exhibition provides just that opportunity, creating an interactive Jurassic Park inside the cavernous Museum of Discovery and Science. “Dinosaurs in Motion” will feature 14 life-sized metal sculptures of T-Rexes, Pterodactyls, Brontosauri and more, which visitors can manipulate and observe via lever and pulley systems and remote controls. What’s more, while not all the beasts will be of the color green, but they’ll all be environmentally green: They’re constructed from recycled materials. The exhibition continues through Jan. 5.

From the outside, it might look like a badge of honor for a provocative author like Salman Rushdie to receive a fatwa from an intolerant Islamic cleric; certainly, it gave endless attention to Rushdie’s best-seller The Satanic Verses back in the late 1980s. But for Rushdie himself, the death threats all but ruined his life, sending into an identity-changing upheaval the author has chronicled in his most recent memoir, Joseph Anton. But Rushdie’s career is far more storied than this much-publicized tome and its blowback; he’s the author of 11 novels, including Shame, The Enchantress of Florence and Midnight’s Children, which was adapted for film earlier this year. Mitchell Kaplan, the founder of Books and Books, will lead this conversation with Rushdie. Attendees who purchase Joseph Anton at Books and Books (for $18) will receive two tickets; otherwise, single tickets for $10 will be available for purchase.

It would be enough, presumably, for Metallica to film another revealing concert documentary, a la 2004’s “Some Kind of Monster,” and manage to fill giant IMAX theaters with its thundering, shredding music alone. But this time, working with feature-film director Nimrod Antal (“Predators”), the band went one step further. Or perhaps about 50 steps further. Antal used a Metallica concert as the framework for a more ambitious project: a narrative drama in which one of the band’s roadies is sent on a routine mission and encounters something like the apocalypse, with galloping horsemen, cloaked gunmen and fire in the streets, while the pyrotechnics and other theatrics continue unabated on Metallica’s stage. The result is an action thriller/music-doc hybrid unlike any I’ve encountered. The movie opens tonight on a number of 3D IMAX screens (it will also play at Muvico Parisian in West Palm Beach and Regal Sawgrass in Sunrise), a week before its expansion into 2D theaters.

It’s rare that music legends as influential and important as Brian Wilson and Jeff Beck would deign to share a co-headlining credit, but that’s exactly what they’ve planned to do on this star-studded jaunt of retro pop. The collaboration began when former Yardbirds guitarist Beck joined the golden-voiced Beach Boy Wilson on a song on the latter’s forthcoming solo album. Citing his excitement in touring with Beck, Wilson said in a press release that “we’ve got some new tunes we want to try out on a live crowd as well as doing some great music from our catalogues.” The tour kicks off tonight, so we’ll see how closely this co-headlining thing works, or if one performer will get more of their hits on the docket than the other. David Marks and Al Jardine, two Beach Boys from the band’s prime, will join them onstage.

Considering that the Cuban population is the most dominant immigrant group in South Florida, we could all probably use an education on what life on the island is really like – beyond the state-sanctioned propaganda that passes for much of the Cuban film industry. So named because it offers an “alternative” to these prevailing Cuban-cinema winds, this festival will rectify and elucidate unexplored areas of Cuban society, in a manner that is often challenging and experimental. Eighteen features and shorts will screen over the three-day period, with programs divided into thematic categories like “Tropical Mythology” (such as "Juan of the Dead," pictured), “Free Electrons” and “Postnationalism, Post-Cinema.” Visit the website for the full schedule.

Lake Worth’s little-festival-that-could continues into its fourth year as a film festival, workshop showcase and industry incubator, promising more than a dozen films, nine workshops, three parties, an awards ceremony and appearances from more than 30 industry figures. Highlights this year include an expanded international palette – there will be a “Best Foreign Film” category for the first time – and a closing-night lecture from Billy Corben (pictured), the local documentarian responsible for “Cocaine Cowboys.” Also, don’t miss the premiere of Stella Martinelli’s “American Girl Movie/Red,” an animated short film in the Ray Harryhausen mold whose producer/director is no less than 8 years old.

Growing up with an Argentine Israeli family, saxophonist Uri Gurvich cultivated an eclectic music taste at an early age, and since then he’s incorporated the sounds of more worlds and regions – and helped to redefine what modern jazz can be. The concerts with his four-piece ensemble often combine Cuban and Israeli music, Arabian and Argentine melodies, and American funk and avant-garde (he’s a protégé of underground jazz legend John Zorn, at whose 60th birthday party he recently performed). DownBeat magazine recently heralded Gurvich’s “graceful feat of cultural synthesis.” For his Arts Garage return, the Berklee College of Music grad will visit Delray Beach to promote his acclaimed new album, “BabEL.”